Ezekiel 30:22

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) The strong, and that which was broken—i.e., the whole power of Egypt, both in so far as already crippled, and in so far as it still retained strength.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:20-26 Egypt shall grow weaker and weaker. If lesser judgments do not prevail to humble and reform sinners, God will send greater. God justly breaks that power which is abused, either to put wrongs upon people, or to put cheats upon them. Babylon shall grow stronger. In vain do men endeavour to bind up the arm the Lord is pleased to break, and to strengthen those whom he will bring down. Those who disregard the discoveries of his truth and mercy, shall know his power and justice, in the punishment for their sins.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The strong - Such power as Egypt yet retained at home and abroad.

That which was broken - The power which Egypt aimed at ineffectually, the conquest of Palestine and Syria.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. arms—Not only the "one arm" broken already (Eze 30:21) was not to be healed, but the other two should be broken. Not a corporal wound, but a breaking of the power of Pharaoh is intended.

cause … sword to fall out of … hand—deprive him of the resources of making war.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the former verse God had broken the arm, in this he will break the arms of Pharaoh, he will show he is still against Pharaoh, and will break him more and more.

The strong; that part of his kingdom which remains entire.

That which was broken; that which was shattered before, that part of his kingdom in Syria, taken from him, from Euphrates to the river of Egypt; that once was a strong arm, but now is broken and useless to him: and Egypt, whatever strength it now hath, shall be as weak and useless too; thus all his power and strength shall be destroyed.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt,.... The then present king of Egypt, whose name was Hophra or Apries, Jeremiah 44:30,

and I will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken: both his arms, the sound and the broken one, his whole power, strength, and dominion; meaning that that part of his kingdom which lay between the two rivers of Egypt and Euphrates, that had been taken away by the king of Babylon, should remain so; and the other part of his kingdom should fall a prey to him also:

and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand; so that he should be so far from being so able to make use of the sword, that he should not be able to hold it; it should drop out of his hand; nor should he be able to take it up again, and make war, either offensive or defensive.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break {g} his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.

(g) His force and power.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 22-24. - The strong, and that which was broken. The image is pressed yet further. A warrior whose sword-arm was broken might go on fighting with his left. Hophra might continue to struggle, though with diminished strength. Ezekiel's words shut out the hope of any such struggle. The left arm also should be broken as the right had been. The Chaldean king should wax stronger and stronger. The sword of Nebuchadnezzar should be as truly "the sword of Jehovah," as that of Gideon had been (Judges 7:18). Figuratively, he should stand before him groaning as a man wounded to the death. So in Jeremiah 43:9; Jeremiah 44:30; Jeremiah 46:26, we have allusions to an invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which was to end in his sitting on his throne in the stronghold of Tahapanes. Ezekiel 30:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Ezekiel 30:21. son of man, the arm of Pharaoh the king of Egypt have I broken; and, behold, it will no more be bound up, to apply remedies, to put on a bandage to bind it up, that it may grow strong to grasp the sword. Ezekiel 30:22. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and will break both his arms, the strong one and the broken one, and will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. Ezekiel 30:23. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them in the lands, Ezekiel 30:24. And will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and give my sword into his hand, and will break the arms of Pharaoh, so that he shall groan the groanings of a pierced one before him. Ezekiel 30:25. I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh will fall; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I give my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, that he may stretch it against the land of Egypt. Ezekiel 30:26. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them in the lands; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. - The perfect שׁברתּי in Ezekiel 30:21 is not a prophetic utterance of the certainty of the future, but a pure preterite. This may be seen "both from the allusion in Ezekiel 30:21 to the condition resulting from the shbr שׁבר, and also to the obviously antithetical relation of Ezekiel 30:22, in which future events are predicted" (Hitzig). The arm is a figurative expression for power, here for military power, as it wields the sword. God broke the arm of Pharaoh by the defeat which the Chaldeans inflicted upon Pharaoh Hophra, when he was marching to the relief of besieged Jerusalem. חבּשׁה is a present, as is apparent from the infinitive clauses ('לתת וגו) which follow, altogether apart from הנּה; and חבשׁ signifies to bind up, for the purpose of healing a broken limb, that remedies may be applied and a bandage put on. לחזקהּ, that it may become strong or sound, is subordinate to the preceding clause, and governs the infinitive which follows. The fact that the further judgment which is to fall upon Pharaoh is introduced with לכן (therefore) here (Ezekiel 30:22), notwithstanding the fact that it has not been preceded by any enumeration of the guilt which occasioned it, may be accounted for on the ground that the causal לכן forms a link with the concluding clause of Ezekiel 30:21 : the arm shall not be healed, so as to be able to grasp or hold the sword. Because Pharaoh is not to attain any more to victorious power, therefore God will shatter both of his arms, the strong, i.e., the sound one and the broken one, that is to say, will smite it so completely, that the sword will fall from his hand. The Egyptians are to be scattered among the nations, as is repeated in Ezekiel 30:23 verbatim from Ezekiel 29:12. God will give the sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and equip and strengthen him to destroy the might of Pharaoh, that the latter may groan before him like one who is pierced with the sword. This thought is repeated in Ezekiel 30:25 and Ezekiel 30:26 with an intimation of the purpose of this divine procedure. That purpose it: that men may come to recognise Jehovah as God the Lord. The subject to וידעוּ is indefinite; and the rendering of the lxx is a very good one, καὶ γνώσονται πάντες.