Глава 32

This lament is rather a prophetic threat in form; it contains less elegiac motives than the lamentation over Tyre (especially in the 1st speech). Consists of 2 speeches: Art. 1–16, where more is said about Pharaoh, and v. 17–32 – about his army and people. The second is more like a funeral hymn. The second speech or song describes the descent of Pharaoh and his army into hell. Therefore, this song is very important as a monument to the Old Testament ideas about Sheol, its branches and inhabitants. Unfortunately, its text is transmitted to the Mazor with great disagreement. and LXX; in some code. LXX has a completely different arrangement of verses: 20, 21, 19. Ezek.32:1. In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: February 586, a year and 7 months later after the destruction of Jerusalem, therefore, during the murder of Gedaliah and the flight to Egypt of the Jews remaining in Palestine. Perhaps this “cry” was inspired by the modern “cry” of Jeremiah over Israel. LXX: 10 or 11 year (various in various codes): Peshitto and 9 Hebrews. handwritten: 11 year; in accordance with which the day of the month is 10 or 11 instead of 12; but this option must have arisen from the great proximity to the date 1/XII 12th Art. 17, 15/XII 12, and in accordance with the dates of Ezek.30.20 and Ezek.31.1. Ezek.32:2. son of man! take up a lament for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him: You, like a young lion among the nations and like a monster in the seas, throw yourself into your rivers, and muddy the waters with your feet, and trample their streams. "Crying". Isaiah in the XIV chapter. raises a cry about Babylonia: Ezekiel one about Tire, and the other about Egypt. - "Young Lion". The pharaoh is compared with him for his land strength, and with the sea monster for his sea strength. – “Monster” – Heb. subtle Eze.29.3, where it is translated crocodile; LXX and Vulg. here and here: “serpent”, δρακων, draco; Some features in the further description of the “monster” suggest that Ezekiel also adds the image of a hippopotamus to the image of a crocodile. – “You throw yourself” – lit. “you blow foam,” that is, with your nostrils; LXX: “you hit with your horns”, εξεκρατιζες. When a crocodile emerges from the depths, it releases water through its nostrils. Ezekiel takes from here the image for Pharaoh's pride. Egypt was proud of its abundant irrigation and, by transferring many troops across all its waters, this muddied them. Egypt's passion for conquest both destroyed its forces and agitated neighboring peoples. Ezek.32:3. Thus says the Lord God: I will cast My net over you in the gathering of many nations, and they will pull you out with My snare. To catch a crocodile with a net, you can imagine how big it must be and how many people (“in the assembly of many nations”) are required for this, but, in general, crocodiles are not caught this way. Hippopotamuses (see article 2) are caught. In addition, this is generally Ezekiel’s favorite representation of God’s judgment over wicked kings and kingdoms: Ezek. 12.13, 17.20, 19.8. Many nations must be witnesses of God's judgment over Pharaoh: Ezek.23.24, etc. Ezek.32:4. And I will throw you to the ground, I will cast you in an open field, and all the birds of the air will land on you, and the beasts of all the earth will feast on you. A sea animal (crocodile, hippopotamus) is easy to kill only on land, where it is deprived of its element. Agatharchides (b. 27 and d Smend) and Diodorus (III, 14, 40; cf. Neg. II, 69, etc.) say that ichthyophages in Africa serve as food for sea animals thrown ashore; Wed Ps 73.14 according to LXX. The image of Leviathan or a sea monster, which served as food for animals and birds, became a favorite in Hebrew from Ezekiel. apocalyptic: 3Ezra 6.49, 52, etc. The dying kingdom will be torn to shreds by neighboring peoples, like carrion by birds of prey and beasts. Ezek.32:5. And I will scatter your flesh over the mountains, and fill the valleys with your carcasses. The prophet’s mind is presented here with the corpses of Egyptian warriors fallen in the war, covering the mountains and valleys. The hyperbole is brought to stunning proportions: not only the shore, but also the distant mountains and valleys will be covered with the meat of the killed monster. – “Corpses”; in euros a word with an unspecified meaning: rammut, the same root as rimma, worm, - personal. swarming, from here we can derive the meaning of “carrion”; LXX read ladies (close in style), blood; therefore Vulgate: sanies, ichor; if so, then the image is even more amazing: the hollows and valleys, like bowls, will be filled with ichor. It is remarkable that in the wedge-shaped inscriptions there are expressions so close to the present that they suggest borrowing from Ezekiel; eg in the inscription of Tiglath-Pelizar I Coll. III, 53–56: “I piled up the corpses of their warriors on the heights of the mountains and shed the blood of their warriors in the gorges” (Muller, Ez. – Stud. 56–58). The similarity, as we see, is not literal and is quite explained by the commonality of content. Ezek.32:6. And I will water the land of your voyage with your blood to the very mountains; and the ruts will be filled with you. “The land of your voyage” - suggested. and hardly a correct translation of the Hebrew. tsafa, which Symmachus trans. ιχορ (owl blood of the gods, lymph), Targ. “fat land”, i.e. land abundantly irrigated by the Nile, LXX “pus”. - “I’ll drink blood... all the way to the mountains.” There will be so much blood on the earth that, like the water of a flood, it will reach the tops of the mountains. The terrifying hyperbole of LXX is softened: “and the earth will drink from your pus, from the multitude (of your corpses) on the mountains.” - “And the potholes will be filled with you” - stronger than “with your blood” or “with your corpses.” Ezek.32:7. And when you fade away, I will close the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not shine with its light. The usual in the Bible rapprochement between great catastrophes on earth and revolutions in the stellar world: cf. Isaiah 13.10, which may have been what Ezekiel had in mind here, Joel. 2:30–31, 3:15; Matthew 24.29, etc. The sky will darken out of compassion, just as Lebanon will be sad: Ezek.31.15. - “When you fade away.” Rationalists see an indication of the worldly dragon, with which God is in a difficult struggle (Isaiah 51.9), more specifically, of the star of this dragon, rotating between the Great and Little Dippers in almost half of the Arctic Circle and causing, according to the ancients, the darkening of the sky. The prophet’s mind could have imagined darkness during the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Ezek.32:8. All the lights that shine in the sky I will darken over you, and I will bring darkness upon your land, says the Lord God. “Your land” - Egypt; darkness is limited to Egypt, as Exodus 10.21 et c.; therefore, the Vatican Code unnecessarily strengthens the idea without reading “yours.” Ezek.32:9. I will confuse the hearts of many nations when I divulge your fall among the nations, in lands that you did not know. “When I announce your fall among the nations,” when rumors about it reach: but LXX is better: “When I bring out your captives into the tongues,” than what Ezekiel 29.12 already threatened Egypt with. Through the captives those nations will receive the news of the fall of Egypt. - The captivity will be all the more difficult because the captives will end up in lands “that you did not know,” the most remote, to the ends of the earth, to wild peoples with whom Egypt not only has no relations, but at an extreme distance did not even know them. Ezek.32:10. And with you I will terrify many nations, and their kings will tremble in fear for you, when I shake My sword before their faces, and every minute they will tremble for their souls on the day of your fall. “And through you I will terrify many nations,” into fear for their fate, all the more powerful because the catastrophe clearly had a supernatural cause and was unexpected according to human calculations. LXX does not have “per minute”. Ezek.32:11. For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you. The former figurative speech is translated into more direct language. “Sword” - see Chapter XXI. Ezek.32:12. Your people will fall by the swords of mighty men; all of them are the most cruel of nations, and they will destroy the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude will perish. “The fiercest of the nations” - see explanation of Ezek.7.24, 28.7. “Its multitude” – Ezek.31.2. Ezek.32:13. And I will destroy all their livestock by the great waters, and no human foot will trouble them forward, and the hoofs of the cattle will not trouble them. "Muddy them up". The Prophet uses for his image the turbidity of the water of the Nile, which comes from the fact that it flows through the mud and takes it with it, and for which part of it is called the Black Nile. There were and are now few cattle on the very banks of the Nile; it is grown in the drier parts of Egypt. But the prophet takes the Nile as representative of all Egypt. Ezek.32:14. Then I will give rest to their waters, and make their rivers flow like oil, says the Lord God. The peace that will be given to the waters of the Nile, that is, to Egypt, will most likely come from the desolation and lifelessness of the country (from the fact that people and livestock that muddied the river will be exterminated in it), but in a deeper sense - from the destruction of pagan vanity and sin in the country, therefore, here is a prophecy about messianic times and about the establishment and prosperity of Christianity in Egypt. Oil in the Bible is a symbol of the blessing of God and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Ezek.32:15. When I make the land of Egypt desolate, and when the land is deprived of everything that fills it; When I have struck down all those who dwell therein, then they will know that I am the Lord. The advent of a peaceful future for Egypt must, as in other countries, be preceded by the punitive and cleansing judgment of God. Ezek.32:16. This is the lamentable song that will be sung; the daughters of the nations will sing it; They will sing it about Egypt and about all its multitude, says the Lord God. A postscript to the song, making it clear that the latter refers not to Pharaoh only (v. 2), but to the whole country, with all its contents. - “They will sing” - glory. “and weep for him” (as if the prophet was personally entrusted with singing it with the daughters of the nations). – “Daughters of the Nations” – glory. stronger: “pagan daughters.” Women usually mourned for the dead: Jer 9.17 et seq. 2 Samuel 1.24. Ezek.32:17. In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the same month, the word of the Lord came to me: No month specified; this indication could most likely be omitted by the scribes if the month was the same as for the previous speech: the 12th, then the present speech would be separated from the previous one by only 15 days, which is natural given their close connection in content. But LXX is set to the 1st month (and in the date of the 1st century the 12th year is corrected to 10 or 11, since in the 12th year the second speech - it is not clear why - would have been earlier than the first). Ezek.32:18. son of man! mourn the people of Egypt, and cast them, them and the daughters of the famous nations, into the pit, with those who go down to the grave. “People” – glory. “many”, see explanation of Ezek.31.2. The pharaoh is no longer mentioned. - “Bring him down... into the underworld” with your prophetic word, which is given real power by Holy Scripture, as the word of God, since it together is the very thing: Am 9.9; Jeremiah 1.10 and others - “And the daughters of famous nations”, i.e. these nations - which are numbered in Art. 22, 24 et seq. – “To Sheol”, “to the grave” - Ezek.26.20. Ezek.32:19. Who are you superior to? go down and lie with the uncircumcised. “Who are you superior to?” - at death, in the kingdom at its fall. Egypt and Pharaoh suffered the same fate as all people and the smallest kingdoms. In the LXX, this expression is transferred to v. 21: “Who are you better than,” and here: “come down from the waters splendidly (beautifully?),” from the Nile to hell—the dry land. - “Get down” was not added anywhere; default figure. - “Lie down,” thank you. “sleep” is a poetic designation for death. – “With the uncircumcised”, see explanation of Ezek.28.10, 31.18. Ezek.32:20. They will fall among those slain by the sword, and he will be given to the sword; draw him and all his multitude. “Those” are the kingdoms before which Egypt was proud. – “Killed with the sword” - therefore deprived of burial, “not circumcised” at death, see the explanation of Ezek.28.10. - “Drag him” to death and destruction. LXX instead of Moshcha was read according to Art. 21 shohvu, "success". “His” – Pharaoh, Egypt. "Multitude", Heb. gamon see explanation of Ezek.31.2. Ezek.32:21. Among the underworld, the first of the heroes will talk about him and his allies; They fell and lie there among the uncircumcised, slain with the sword. "Among the Underworld", Heb. sheol, LXX stronger: "in the depths of the abyss"; and they introduce these words into the speech of the “heroes” to Pharaoh: “Wake up in the depths of the abyss (at the bottom of hell”). - “About his allies”, in Hebrew. the same word that is translated in Ezekiel 30.8: “supports” - see there. They don't have LXX. - “The First”, Heb. oil plural part from eating the same as in Ezek.31.1; see explanation. there. "Of the Heroes", Heb. Gibborim, Greek γιγαντες, slav. “giant”, back in Gen. 6.4; Numbers 13.33. These giants, also inhabitants of hell, Sheol, laugh at Pharaoh that he fell as uncircumcised, struck down by the sword and, therefore, deprived of burial (cf. explanation of Ezek. 28.10), while they, according to Art. 27, can be proud of an honorable military burial - with weapons, with swords under their heads, so they occupy in Sheol, as it were, the best, highest department, inaccessible to the uncircumcised, killed and unburied, including the Pharaoh and his army. Although these giants from the moral side in Art. 27 are characterized not entirely flatteringly, by features reminiscent of the giants of Genesis, with whom, as well as with those mentioned repeatedly in St. According to the writings of the natives of Palestine, they should be identical, but they are as if the best inhabitants of Sheol, below whom stand, together with Pharaoh, all the later peoples who descended into hell, whom in Art. 22–30 there are 7 (Assur, Elam, etc.) - better, perhaps, for their ancient simplicity, courage, spontaneity, innocence. The place, like this entire section of the chapter, is important for the details that it conveys about the division of Sheol in the Old Testament idea of ​​it. - “They fell and lie.” LXX is stronger: “come and go.” - “Among the uncircumcised, slain with the sword”, see explanation of Ezek.28.10. Ezek.32:22. There is Assur and all his hordes, around him are their graves, all slain, fallen by the sword. Ezek.32:23. His tombs are placed in the very depths of the underworld, and his horde is around his tomb, all slain, fallen by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living. The calculation of the peoples already in the underworld begins, of course incomplete; those who have recently come down or are just leaving the world stage are selected; the sacred number 7 is taken. The order of calculation does not follow either the time of death or the degree of significance, but rather geographical; first the northern ones: Assur, Elam, Meshech and Tubal (Medes); then the southern ones (Coon), finally the western and extreme north (v. 30). “Assur” died in 608–607 BC with the capture of Nineveh by Nabopolassar of Babylon and Cyaxares of Media (Zeph 2.13; Nahum 2.2), naming the first, perhaps, as the most significant enemy of Israel. - “His hordes”, Heb. kagal, while about other peoples (Elam, etc.) gamon - many, perhaps as a sign of the special large number of peoples subordinate to Assur. We imagine a coffin, a grave as a place on earth; for the Jew the ideas of the grave and Sheol; (hell, underworld) often almost coincide (cf. eg Isa 14.11). Sheol, as the present place shows, is a great grave in which many graves are connected; It seems that in hell all the coffins of the world are connected. But although Sheol is thought of approximately as a large cemetery, souls have circulation even outside their graves. An idea that pleasantly amazes with its spontaneity, concreteness, living connection with reality, the absence of any speculation about something about which speculation is useless (about the afterlife, which no efforts of the earthly mind can imagine, because it does not occur in the conditions of earthly existence). – The coffin of the king or the ruling people is surrounded (“around him”) by the coffins of his soldiers and subjects. It is remarkable that, according to the prophet, even in the afterlife, each nation lives together on its own, crowding with many of its coffins around one coffin of its king or leader. “In the very depths of the underworld” - either because of the antiquity of this people, because of how long ago they descended into hell, or because the depth of the fall corresponds to the height from which they fall. - “Those who spread terror to the land of the living.” This is indicated not so much as a reason for condemnation after death (cf. v. 32; Ezek. 26.17), but to strengthen the idea of ​​​​the pitiful misery of the current position of Assyria - at the bottom of hell. – St. 23 contains many repetitions (doublets) of vv. 22, why, rightfully, most LXX codices read only the last sentence in it, and transfer the expression “in the depths of the underworld” to the middle of Art. 22. and they place them before the words: “Their graves are around him.” Ezek.32:24. So Elam with all his multitude around his tomb, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into the pit, who spread terror in the land of the living and bear their shame with those who went to the grave. "Elam", Assyrian. Elamtu, class. Elymais, Susiana, a strong people of Western Asia, excellent archers, subjugated to Assyria (Isa 11.11; 1Ezra 4.9) by Assurbanipal (only after 5 campaigns); in the army of Sennacherib near Jerusalem there were Elamites (Isa. 22.6); with the fall of Assyria, they regained their independence, which they probably enjoyed under Ezekiel, successfully defending it against the Babylonians and Medes (Str. XVI, 744), the latter of whom, perhaps, were conquered (Jer 49.34, 25:25). "Uncircumcised". About Assur; this is not said. - “They bear their shame.” Same. Ezek.32:25. Among the slain they gave him a bed with all his multitude; around him are their graves, all uncircumcised, slain with the sword; and just as they spread terror in the land of the living, they bear shame on themselves along with those who went to the grave and are placed among the slain. “Among the slain” – Ezek.28.10. “Multitude” – Ezek.31.2. - “Their graves are around him” v. 22. The verse contains repetitions not only from verses 22 and 23, which is natural, but also from verse 24, which is probably a dittography. Many code. LXX reads only the first 3 or last 3 words from it. Ezek.32:26. Meshech and Tubal are there with all their multitude; around him were their graves, all uncircumcised, slain with the sword, because they had spread terror in the land of the living. “Meshech and (and the Hebrew “and” is not) Tubal” - see the explanation of Ezek.27.13. They are also the main allies of Gog (Ezek.38.2). If these are Scythians, then the prophet could have in mind that great campaign of the Scythians in Western Asia, which Herodotus talks about (I, 103 et seq. cf. IV, 11 et seq.) and which, it seems, is pointed out more than once by the book. Zephaniah and Jer 4 – Jer 6. In Ps 119.5 Meshech means the barbarians of the farthest north, and there is no doubt that the Scythians then lived between the Black and Caspian Seas. According to Herodotus, they plundered Western Asia for 28 years and devastated it terribly; Their invasion forced, among other things, Cyaxares to lift the siege of Nineveh. For the rest, see Art. 23. Ezek.32:27. Should they not also lie with the fallen uncircumcised heroes, who with their weapons of war went down into the pit and put their swords under their heads, and their iniquity remained on their bones, because they, being strong, were a terror in the land of the living. “Shouldn’t you”, in Heb. and Vulg. "shouldn't." These robber peoples cannot be in the “underworld”, Sheol (it is remarkable that this word is here for the first time in the calculation of the peoples of hell; previously, the forest, the tomb) together with the famous, who were awarded an honorable military burial - with weapons, giants, even if they were uncircumcised, much less circumcised, because their bones, that is, Meshech and Tubal, are desecrated by lawlessness (robberies and robberies). LXX do not have a denial: “and brought to rest the giants who had fallen from eternity”; therefore, the society of giants in Sheol seems shameful to them; “from everlasting” instead of “uncircumcised”: meolam instead of mearelim. Instead of “fallen” - nophelim, the newest ones suggest reading according to Genesis 6.4 nephilim, giants. Ezek.32:28. And you will be crushed among the uncircumcised, and you will lie down with those slain with the sword. "You" is Pharaoh. The verse interrupts the counting of the inhabitants of the underworld and separates the 4 named, more powerful nations from 3 further, less important ones. Ezek.32:29. There is Edom and its kings and all its princes, who with all their courage are laid among those slain by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who have gone down to the grave. "Edom" is taken to be Israel's old enemy. Ezekiel predicted his death in Ezekiel 25.12–14 and, apparently, awaits it before the destruction of Egypt, if Pharaoh finds Edom already in hell (as Edom was supposed to suffer after the battle of Carchemish, clearly from Jer 27.3, 49.7). - “His kings and all his princes,” each tribe had a prince, who, perhaps, elected a king from among themselves; Wed Gen. 36.31 et al. “Which” – asher. LXX read "The Assurovs". - “With all my courage.” Gen. 36.31 already testifies to the warlike nature of the Edomites. Here this epithet replaces the addition about the former 4 great nations: “with all the multitude,” “their hordes,” because the Edomites were a small people. There is no addition about them: “spreading terror in the land of the living,” because they were not world conquerors. Ezek.32:30. There are the rulers of the north, all of them and all the Sidonians, who went down there with the slain, having been put to shame in their power, which was terrifying, and they lie with the uncircumcised, slain with the sword, and bear their shame with those who went to the grave. "Lords", Heb. Nesikei is still only Joshua 13.21; Ps 82.13 and Micah 5.5 from the anointing, to anoint (χρηστος) is also similar to Assyrian. nasik, prince from the root “to establish” (Ak. καθεσταμεναι). Slav. "princes". - "North". With this, for some reason, vague name, the prophet could only designate the north closest to those mentioned in Art. 29 Edomite and in this v. Sidonians (Phoenicians), i.e. Syria (the further north is already named in Art. 26). - “All the Sidonians”. This name here undoubtedly has the broad meaning of Phenicia that it had in ancient times: Judgment. 18.7; Isa 23.2; LXX: “all the governors of Assur”, reading again asher, “which” as “Assur”. Ezekiel could have been referring to the wars of the Syrians and Phoenicians with the Chaldeans, the siege of Tire N. - “Pharaoh even on earth should have had a good acquaintance with these inhabitants of Sheol” (Bert.). “Shamed” is not there. code. LXX. Ezek.32:31. Pharaoh will see them, and Pharaoh and all his army will be comforted because of all his multitude that was slain by the sword, says the Lord God. "He will be comforted." Sad consolation! Irony. Wed. Ezek.14.22. – “Many” – Ezek.31.2. Ezek.32:32. For I will spread my fear in the land of the living, and Pharaoh and all his multitude will be laid down among the uncircumcised with those slain with the sword, says the Lord God. “For I will spread my fear in the land of the living,” a fear that was illegally encroached upon by the warlike nations of v. 23–25. But, of course, this fear will be of a different, saving nature; will not be "horror". - “Among the uncircumcised.” Repetition of the most important expressions of speech that encapsulate its entire thought. You might be interested in: