Ezekiel 30:5

Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia.—Ethiopia and Egypt were closely connected, and during much of their history were often under one government. Ethiopian soldiers served in great numbers in the Egyptian armies. Libya and Lydia are an unfortunate substitution for the original terms, Phut and Lud, which are preserved in Ezekiel 27:10, where see Note. They are there mentioned as furnishing mercenaries to the Tyrian army; and it is known historically that they supplied them to a still greater extent to the Egyptian army.

All the mingled people, and Chub.—There is the same expression, “mingled people,” in reference to Egypt, in Jeremiah 25:20. In the connection here it may be understood especially of the foreign mercenaries from various quarters in the Egyptian armies. Chub is a name entirely unknown. Various conjectures have been hazarded, and various changes in the text proposed, but none are supported by sufficient evidence. It evidently denotes some ally of Egypt, possibly Nubia.

Men of the land that is in league.—Literally, sons of the land of the covenant. The ancient interpreters, St. Jerome and Theodoret, understood this expression of the Jews who had sought refuge from Nebuchadnezzar in Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 42, 43, 44), to whom Jeremiah had expressly prophesied that the sword and famine of which they were afraid should overtake them there (Jeremiah 42:16-18). This interpretation is supported by the translation of the Septuagint, made in Egypt, “land of my covenant.” The objection made to this view, that Palestine is never called “the land of the covenant,” and that this must therefore signify some unknown country in alliance with Egypt at the time, seems rather specious than real. If it happens that this expression is never used of Palestine, yet that was unquestionably the land of the people of the covenant, and a particular expression may very well be used once without occurring again.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 30:5. Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia — The names in Hebrew are Cush, Phut, and Lud, which are mentioned together as the Egyptian allies, Jeremiah 46:9. Cush probably signifies Ethiopia here, being joined with Phut and Lud, which were nations of Africa. And all the mingled people — All their mercenary soldiers, consisting of various nations. If we distinguish these from the men of the land, mentioned afterward, they may mean that mixture of Carians, Ionians, and other nations lying upon the Mediterranean sea, which Apries got together to encounter Amasis, who, together with him, were destroyed. And Chub — The Cubii are mentioned by Ptolemy as a people of Mareotis, a province of Egypt. There is no mention of this people anywhere else in the Scriptures. According to Michaelis, the ancient geographers have a mercantile town, Kubee, on the Indian sea, under the eighth degree of north latitude.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:1-19 The prophecy of the destruction of Egypt is very full. Those who take their lot with God's enemies, shall be with them in punishment. The king of Babylon and his army shall be instruments of this destruction. God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another. No place in the land of Egypt shall escape the fury of the Chaldeans. The Lord is known by the judgments he executes. Yet these are only present effects of the Divine displeasure, not worthy of our fear, compared with the wrath to come, from which Jesus delivers his people.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Libya, and Lydia - Or, as in Ezekiel 27:10, Phut and Lud.

The mingled people - Foreigners, who settled in Egypt. The Saite dynasty of Egyptian kings were especially favorable to foreign immigrants. Hophra employed many of them in his armies, and in this way, according to Herodotus, lost the affections of his Egyptian subjects. See Jeremiah 25:20 note.

Chub - The word occurs here only. It was some tribe in alliance with Egypt, either of African race like Lud and Phut, or settlers like the "mingled people." A not-improbable suggestion connects it with Coptos, of which the Egyptian form was Qeb, Qebt or Qabt.

The men of the land that is in league - Rather, the children of the land of the covenant, i. e., of Israel (see Ezekiel 16:8). After the destruction of Jerusalem Jews withdrew into Egypt Jeremiah 43:7. Many of them would naturally enough be found in the Egyptian armies. This is in favor of the later date assigned to this section.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. the mingled people—the mercenary troops of Egypt from various lands, mostly from the interior of Africa (compare Eze 27:10; Jer 25:20, 24; 46:9, 21).

Chub—the people named Kufa on the monuments [Havernick], a people considerably north of Palestine [Wilkinson]; Coba or Chobat, a city of Mauritania [Maurer].

men of the land that is in league—too definite an expression to mean merely, "men in league" with Egypt; rather, "sons of the land of the covenant," that is, the Jews who migrated to Egypt and carried Jeremiah with them (Jer 42:1-44:30). Even they shall not escape (Jer 42:22; 44:14).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ethiopia, Heb. Cush, which are commonly thought to be the Ethiopians in Africa, but some more inquisitive geographers have found them originally and chiefly in Arabia, which was either subject or ally to Egypt in its prosperity; and these were, as Ezekiel 30:4, in a panic that, lest the Babylonian should pass the sea, and take them in his way home.

Libya, Heb. Phut; hence the Putaens or Phutaans, who afterwards were better known by Libyans, a part of whose country was near to Egypt.

Lydia; Lydians, not the Asiatic, but the Africans, placed between some part of Cyrene and Egypt.

All the mingled people; the hired soldiers from all parts, a confused mixture of nations, such as the Libyans had got together; or all Arabia, so the word 2 Chronicles 9:14 Isaiah 13:20; or all that ravenous sort of people, that like crows fly to slaughters; so soldiers of fortune follow the wars, and the Hebrew word is crow, Leviticus 11:15 Deu 14:14 Psalm 147:9, as well as mixed.

Chub; Ethiopians beyond Egypt south, the inhabitants of the inmost Libya, which reached to the Nigritae; perhaps they may be the Nubians at this day, a letter easily changed.

The men of the land that is in league; the sons of the land of the covenant: some refer to the Jews, children of the covenant, but this is forced; it is all the people of Egypt’s league, all the allies of the Egyptian kingdom. With them; with the Egyptians.

By the sword; in war by the sword of Babylon.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Ethiopia, Lybia, and Lydia,.... Or, "Cush, Phut, and Lud". Cush and Phut were both sons of Ham, from whom Egypt is sometimes called the land of Ham; and Lud or Ludim was the son of Mizraim, the son of Ham, the common name of Egypt in Scripture, Genesis 10:6. Cush is by us rendered Ethiopia; and is thought by some to be a part of Arabia, which lay near to Egypt. Phut and Lud are properly enough rendered Lybia and Lydia; and both these, with Ethiopia, are represented as the allies and confederates of Egypt, Jeremiah 46:9.

And all the mingled people; the Syriac version renders it, "all Arabia": and so Symmachus, according to Jerom; though others think they are the Carians, Ionians, and other Greeks, which Pharaohapries got together to fight with Amasis (g): and "Chub"; or "Cub"; the inhabitants of this piece are thought to be the Cobii of Ptolemy (h), who dwelt in Mareotis, a country of Egypt; though some, by a change of a letter, would have them to be the Nubians, a people in Africa; and so the Arabic version here reads it. Of these Strabo (i) says, on the left of the stream of the Nile dwell the Nubians, a large nation in Lybia; and which he afterwards mentions along with the Troglodytes, Blemmyes, Megabarians, and Ethiopians, that dwell above Syene: and so Ptolemy (k) speaks of them along with the Megabarians, and as inhabiting to the west of the Avalites: and Pliny (l) calls them Nubian Ethiopians, whom he places near the Nile: and a late traveller (m) in those parts informs us that the confines of Egypt and Nubia are about eight miles above the first cataract (of the Nile); Nubia begins at the villages of Ellkalabsche, and of Teffa; the first is to the east of the Nile, and the second to the west.

And the men of the land that is in league shall fall with them by the sword; all the nations above mentioned, with whomsoever should be found that were confederates with Egypt, should share the same fate with them. The Septuagint render it, "and those of the children of my covenant"; as if the Jews were meant that were in Egypt, who are sometimes called "the children of the covenant", and of "the promise", Acts 3:25, and so some interpret the place; but it takes in all the allies of Egypt, and does not design the Jews, at least not them only.

(g) See Prideaux's Connexion, part 1. p. 93. (h) Geograph. l. 4. c. 5. (i) Geograph. l. 17. p. 541, 563. (k) Geograph. l. 5. c. 8. (l) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 30. (m) Norden's Travels in Egypt and Nubia, vol. 2. p. 131, 132.

Geneva Study Bible

{a} Cush, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.

(a) By Phut and Lud are meant Africa and Libya.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. See on Ezekiel 27:10; Heb. is Cush and Phut and Lud. For Cush LXX. reads Persians as Ezekiel 27:10, for Phut Cretans, and for Lud Lydians.

the mingled people] perhaps foreigners. In Jeremiah 25:24 these so named (ereb) are represented as having kings and dwelling in the desert (cf. 1 Kings 10:15), and in Ezekiel 30:20 they are named next to the kings of Uz. On the other hand in Jeremiah 50:37 they are spoken of as being in the midst of Babylon. Hence the sense of “mercenaries” has been suggested. In the present passage some distinct people seems intended.

the land that is in league] Lit., children of the land of the covenant. Reference can hardly be to the land of Israel, or to refugees from Israel in Egypt. Either some definite country is meant, the name of which would be suggested by the prophet’s description, or “land” is used collectively—all allied lands. The name Chub does not occur again; LXX. Libyans, and in Nahum 3:9 the Lubim appear beside Cush, Egypt and Phut.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Libya. Here the Authorized Version gives (rightly enough, though inconsistently) the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Phut, which is reproduced in the Revised Version. The Lydians, in like manner, stand for Lud; but we have to remember, as before (Ezekiel 27:10), that they are the African, and not the Asiatic, people of that name. In Jeremiah 46:9 the two nations are named among the auxiliaries of Egypt. Possibly the similarity of name may have led to the term being used also for the Lydian and Ionian forces enlisted by Psam-metichus I. (Herod., 3:4); but there seems more reason for including these in the mingled people that are next mentioned. Chub, or Cub (Revised Version), is found here only, and has consequently given occasion to many guesses Havernick connects it with the Kufa, a district of Media, often named in Egyptian monuments; Michaelis, with Kobe on the Ethiopian coast of the Indian Ocean; Maurer, with Cob, a city of Mauretania; Gesenius, Ewald, and Bunsen suggest the reading Nub, and identify it with Nubia; Keil and Smend adopt the form Lub, found in the Lubim of 2 Chronicles 16:8 and Nahum 3:9. On the whole, there are no adequate data for the solution of the problem. The men of the land that is in league. Here, again, we are in a region of many conjectures.

(1) Hitzig and Kliefoth (following Jerome and the LXX., which gives, "the land of my covenant") take it of Canaan, as being the land in covenant with Jehovah (Psalm 74:2, 20; Daniel 11:28; Acts 3:25).

(2) Hengstenberg, for the Sabeans, as being members of the Judaeo-Egyptian confederacy implied in Ezekiel 23:42.

(3) Keil, Ewald, and Smend, of a people among the allies of Egypt, unknown to us, but sufficiently designated by Ezekiel for his readers. Ezekiel 30:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Announcement of the judgment upon Egypt and its allies. - Ezekiel 30:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ezekiel 30:2. Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Howl ye! Woe to the day! Ezekiel 30:3. For the day is near, the day of Jehovah near, a day of cloud, the time of the heathen will it be. Ezekiel 30:4. And the sword will come upon Egypt, and there will be pangs in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt, and they take her possessions, and her foundations are destroyed. Ezekiel 30:5. Ethiopians and Libyans and Lydians, and all the rabble, and Chub, and the sons of the covenant land, will fall by the sword with them. - In the announcement of the judgment in Ezekiel 30:2 and Ezekiel 30:3, Ezekiel rests upon Joel 1:13, Joel 1:15, and Joel 2:2, where the designation already applied to the judgment upon the heathen world by Obadiah, viz., "the day of Jehovah" (Obadiah 1:15), is followed by such a picture of the nearness and terrible nature of that day, that even Isaiah (Isaiah 13:6, Isaiah 13:9) and Zephaniah (Zephaniah 1:7, Zephaniah 1:14) appropriate the words of Joel. Ezekiel also does the same, with this exception, that he uses ההּ instead of אההּ, and adds to the force of the expression by the repetition of קרוב יום. In Ezekiel 30:3, the words from יום ענן to יהיה are not to be taken together as forming one sentence, "a day of cloud will the time of the nations be" (De Wette), because the idea of a "time of the nations" has not been mentioned before, so as to prepare the way for a description of its real nature here. יום ענן and עת גּוים contain two co-ordinate affirmations concerning the day of Jehovah. It will be a day of cloud, i.e., of great calamity (as in Joel 2:2), and a time of the heathen, i.e., when heathen (גּוים without the article) are judged, when their might is to be shattered (cf. Isaiah 13:22). This day is coming upon Egypt, which is to succumb to the sword. Ethiopia will be so terrified at this, that it will writhe convulsively with anguish (חלחלה, as in Nahum 2:11 and Isaiah 21:3). לקח המנהּ signifies the plundering and removal of the possessions of the land, like נשׂא המנהּ in Ezekiel 29:19. The subject to לקחוּ is indefinite, "they," i.e., the enemy. The foundations of Egypt, which are to be destroyed, are not the foundations of its buildings, but may be understood in a figurative sense as relating to persons, after the analogy of Isaiah 19:10; but the notion that Cush, Phut, etc. (Ezekiel 30:9), i.e., the mercenary troops obtained from those places, which are called the props of Egypt in Ezekiel 30:6, are intended, as Hitzig assumes, is not only extremely improbable, but decidedly erroneous. The announcement in Ezekiel 30:6, that Cush, Phut, etc., are to fall by the sword along with the Egyptians (אתּם), is sufficient of itself to show that these tribes, even if they were auxiliaries or mercenaries of Egypt, did not constitute the foundations of the Egyptian state and kingdom; but that, on the contrary, Egypt possessed a military force composed of native troops, which was simply strengthened by auxiliaries and allies. We there interpret יסדותיה, after the analogy of Psalm 11:3 and Psalm 82:5, as referring to the real foundations of the state, the regulations and institutions on which the stability and prosperity of the kingdom rest.

The neighbouring, friendly, and allied peoples will also be smitten by the judgment together with the Egyptians. Cush, i.e., the Ethiopians, Phut and Lud, i.e., the Libyans and African Lydians (see the comm. on Ezekiel 27:10), are mentioned here primarily as auxiliaries of Egypt, because, according to Jeremiah 46:9, they served in Necho's army. By כּל־הערב, the whole of the mixed crowd (see the comm. on 1 Kings 10:15 - πάντες οἱ ἐπίμικτοι, lxx), we are then to understand the mercenary soldiers in the Egyptian army, which were obtained from different nations (chiefly Greeks, Ionians, and Carians, οἱ επίκουροι, as they are called by Herodotus, iii. 4, etc.). In addition to these, כּוּב ,eseht (ἁπ λεγ.) is also mentioned. Hvernick connects this name with the people of Kufa, so frequently met with on the Egyptian monuments. But, according to Wilkinson (Manners, etc., I 1, pp. 361ff.), they inhabited a portion of Asia farther north even than Palestine; and he ranks them (p. 379) among the enemies of Egypt. Hitzig therefore imagines that Kufa is probably to be found in Kohistan, a district of Media, from which, however, the Egyptians can hardly have obtained mercenary troops. And so long as nothing certain can be gathered from the advancing Egyptological researches with regard to the name Cub, the conjecture that כּוּב is a mis-spelling for לוּב is not to be absolutely set aside, the more especially as this conjecture is naturally suggested by the לוּבים of Nahum 3:9 and 2 Chronicles 16:8, and the form לוּב by the side of לוּבים is analogous to לוּד by the side of לוּדים in Jeremiah 46:9, whilst the Liby-Aegyptii of the ancients, who are to be understood by the term לוּבים (see the comm. on Genesis 10:13), would be quite in keeping here. On the other hand, the conjecture offered by Gesenius (Thes. p. 664), viz., נוּב, Nubia, has but a very weak support in the Arabic translator; and the supposition that לוּב may have been the earlier Hebrew form for Nubia (Hitzig), is destitute of any solid foundation. Maurer suggests Cob, a city (municipium) of Mauretania, in the Itiner. Anton. p. 17, ed. Wessel. - The following expression, "sons of the covenant land," is also obscure. Hitzig has correctly observed, that it cannot be synonymous with בּעלי , their allies. But we certainly cannot admit that the covenant land (made definite by the article) is Canaan, the Holy Land (Hitzig and Kliefoth); although Jerome writes without reserve, de filiis terrae foederis, i.e., de populo Judaeorum; and the lxx in their translation, καὶ τῶν υιῶν τῆς διαθήκης μου, undoubtedly thought of the Jews, who fled to Egypt, according to Theodoret's exposition, along with Jeremiah after the destruction of Jerusalem and the murder of the governor Gedaliah, for fear of the vengeance of the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 42-43, and 44). For the application of the expression "land of the covenant" to the Holy Land is never met with either in the Old or New Testament, and cannot be inferred, as Hitzig supposes, from Psalm 74:20 and Daniel 11:28, or supported in any way from either the epithet "the land of promise" in Hebrews 11:9, or from Acts 3:25, where Peter calls the Jews "the children of the prophets and of the covenant." We therefore agree with Schmieder in regarding ארץ as signifying a definite region, though one unknown to us, in the vicinity of Egypt, which was inhabited by a tribe that was independent of the Egyptians, yet bound to render help in time of war.